LOS ANGELES — Eric Lauer does not top the list of players you would have expected to make a huge impact during this World Series, yet he came excruciatingly close to becoming Torontoâ€s latest hero in Game 3.
Lauer gave the Blue Jays all he had and then some in Monday nightâ€s 18-inning marathon at Dodger Stadium. Entering the game with one out in the bottom of the 12th, the left-hander proceeded to blank the Dodgers across 4 2/3 innings with a herculean effort out of the bullpen that should have been his signature performance.
The only problem was that Lauer was matched on the other side by another out-of-nowhere performance from Will Klein, the last available reliever for the Dodgers who shut down the Blue Jays across four scoreless frames of his own.
Having combined for 68 pitches over his previous four outings this postseason — with his highest count in one game a total of 18 — Lauer was at 68 pitches entering the 17th when manager John Schneider finally went to his last reliever available in Brendon Little, who was responsible for Torontoâ€s Game 5 implosion against the Mariners in the ALCS the last time he pitched.
“A turning point is obviously a walk-off homer,†Schneider said. “But man, I give my guys so much credit for playing the way they did and Eric Lauer pitching the way he pitched. Thatâ€s pretty unbelievable. I know Klein did the same thing for them. A lot to unpack in that game. But I couldnâ€t feel as good as I do right now about the way they went about it.â€
Lauer has been a starter for most of his seven-year big league career and made 15 starts for Toronto during the regular season. So, even though his role has been in the bullpen as of late, that starter mentality never left, especially when heâ€s been doing it for so long.
“[Schneider] came up to me a few times and asked if I was good,†Lauer said. “Of course I was good. I was ready to go, and thatâ€s pretty much all we left it at. He was like, ‘This is your game. Weâ€re going to try to win it for you. Just keep going out there and doing your thing.â€â€
Lauer did his thing all night. Facing 20 batters, he allowed just six baserunners on two hits and four walks — two of which were intentional walks to Shohei Ohtani after the Blue Jays decided they were no longer going to get beat by the two-way superstar.
Really, the whole Blue Jays bullpen did its job. After Max Scherzerâ€s 4 1/3 innings to start the game, Torontoâ€s entire bullpen — all eight relievers on the roster — combined to allow three runs in 12 2/3 innings. Sure, there were some hiccups. In addition to Little surrendering the walk-off, there was also Seranthony DomÃnguez allowing a game-tying homer to Ohtani — his second of the night — in the seventh. But at the end of this one, it was the offensive unit that felt like this loss fell on them.
“They did an awesome job to put us in that ballgame,†Blue Jays third baseman Ernie Clement said of the bullpen. “We owe them some runs tomorrow, for sure. Weâ€ll get on that.â€
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